Minnesota fired Bill Smith as general manager on November 7, replacing him with former GM Terry Ryan, but they talked about wanting to keep him as part of the organization in a different role and apparently Smith is willing to stay.

Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com reports that Smith is close to returning in a “special assistant to the president and GM” role that would involve overseeing the team’s efforts in Latin America and their spring training complex in Florida.

Smith was overmatched as a GM, making multiple team-crushing decisions, but he’s been with the Twins since the mid-1980s and handled his firing with class, refusing to say a bad word about anyone involved.